This invention relates to milling tools and, in particular, to provision for aligning the multiple cutting bits or inserts of a face mill to place their face-cutting edges with accuracy into a common plane perpendicular to the rotational axis of the tool.
The problem of precisely aligning the multiple cutting bits of a face mill into a common plane perpendicular to the rotational axis of the cutter is as old as replaceable cutting bits, and not less demanding with the advent of hard metal cutting inserts in lieu of the earlier tool-steel cutting plates. Such alignment is, of course, essential to production of a smooth surface unmarked by the trace of an axially protruding cutting edge.
Most systems heretofore provided have involved some form of screw-driven wedging action to shift the cutting edge of the removable cutting bit axially toward the cutting plane and then clamping the bit against axial movement from the cutting forces. Few such systems were characterized by resilient resistance to the height adjustment of the cutting edges with the result that a great deal of tool-room time and skill was required to bring about the desired planar alignment of the cutting edges.
This invention provides a unique form of removable support, or xe2x80x9cnestxe2x80x9d, as it is sometimes called in the trade, for the cutting insert, which is resilient in the axial direction of the cutter body within its pocket in the periphery of the cutting tool. More precisely, it is formed so as to be resiliently extensible axially of the cutter body so as to provide a following adjustment to the movement of a wedge element, in this case a barrel-screw, in both axial directions.